He was responding to a question about the cancellation of his exhibition by the Lisson Gallery in London in November following comments on social media referencing the Israel-Hamas conflict.
His post, which was subsequently deleted, suggested the “sense of guilt around the persecution of the Jewish people” had been transferred and used against the Arab world.
Referring to his own family’s exile when he was one year old, the activist said: "I grew up within this heavy political censorship.
“I realise now, today in the West, you are doing exactly the same.”
He drew parallels with the disastrous purge under Mao, which took China to the brink of anarchy.
Criticising the suspension of two New York University professors for comments related to Gaza, Ai said: "This is really like a cultural revolution, which is really trying to destroy anybody who have different attitudes, not even a clear opinion.
Ai’s art often addresses political issues in China and he has frequently criticised Beijing’s record on human rights and democracy.
Ah yes cancelling artists livelihoods and censoring them is entirely different.
We’re lucky America doesn’t run any torture camps where they lock up people without trial.
Oh what’s that they do?
Which one has he been put in because of what he said? Please name the facility.
I debunked your entire point with evidence and you’re pivoting.
Address this line:
My entire point is that he is able to say what he wants to say without being thrown into one of those camps.
Thus it is not exactly the same.
You seem to have a strange idea in your head that it is impossible to criticize America (he said the West as a whole, by the way) without comparing it to one of history’s worst dictatorships.
Believe it or not, it’s not a contest. You can criticize both and still admit one was worse.
Either that, or you know nothing about 20th century Chinese history.
Ah the enlightened take where censorship only applies if people get thrown in jail.
Nevermind them being deplatformed and their livelihood being taken away
Again- this is not a contest.
Let me ask you this- if censorship in the west was EXACTLY THE SAME as in Mao’s China, how were you able to post this on Lemmy?
Also- why is Rupert Murdoch still alive and publishing what Ai Weiwei has to say?
People are openly calling for Nazi style genocide on Palestinians, even in our governments.
And anyone who doesn’t support literal Genocide gets censored.
Censorship doesn’t just equate to being thrown in jail. The West wants their illusion of freedom of speech alive so people continue to defend it.
Also - Ai was platformed on Democracy Now! as well.
I’m afraid I’m unable to read your comment because it has been censored.
Maybe that means I’m posting from China because if a Chinese person posts on Lemmy their tweets don’t appear because the CCP censors them.
Yet again- it is not a contest. No one is denying that there is censorship in the West.
Censorship is not all that Mao’s China did. They threw people in camps or executed them for criticizing Mao’s government.
Do you not know what the words “exacactly” and “same” mean? Is that the problem?
That said, this is just a lie: “And anyone who doesn’t support literal Genocide gets censored.” The proof it’s a lie is your article, published by the largest private news organization on the planet, based in the West, not censoring him.
But I do enjoy you claiming someone getting their message across on mass media is being censored.
Which is also untrue because in the West we also execute people and lie about it. When someone blows the whistle they get thrown in jail. See Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. You act like people are free to speak about our war crimes while Biden is actively trying to throw people in prison for exposing them.
You must support actual Nazi style Genocide or you get deplatformed, demonitized and removed from government positions.
The irony is in how our government and media kept praising Ai for speaking out against censorship in China but then turned on him when he criticized subjects that we like to keep censored here.
Sky News is a UK outlet so it’s not American mainstream media covering this.
The punishments might be slightly different, but that is just so people like you keep screaming about “free speech”.
I see… so the West “has to look more democratic” than Mao’s China by… not censoring people or putting them in prison for criticizing Western governments?
Then it’s not “exactly the same as Mao’s China,” now is it?
Which you are free to criticize and expose.
Yes we agree it’s wrong, but that doesn’t make the comparison to a totalitarian system right.
I find it very interesting that OP seems to believe that the West and America are the same things.
I think Norway would be interested to find out they weren’t in the West. Not to mention Canada.
I’ve had multiple run-ins with OP before.
Obviously OP has plenty of nasty views (eg. thinks ‘’‘Zionists’‘’ control all western media), but is also incredibly ill informed (like thinking Sudan used to be a French colony) and almost certainly functionally illiterate(posts links to articles which say the exact opposite of what OP thinks they do). Also almost certainly upvotes their own comments with alts.
The reason I think this, is because in the past, OP has mistakenly quoted something someone else has said as a reply to my comment, then failed entirely to grasp that they’re replying to a different comment even when I’ve said as much. These nonsensical comments still got upvotes, which makes no sense even if people are very partisan.
The only reason I don’t think they’re a useful idiot, is because they’re so ill informed and obnoxious, that if anything they’re actually hurting the people they thinks they’re supporting. Then again, maybe I’m harsh and they’re just some dumb kid.
I really should block them, because honestly arguing with them feels a bit unfair, even if it is funny. Also the whole arguing with pigeons and getting shit in your hair thing.
Well they don’t seem to know what ‘exactly the same’ means, so functionally illiterate is a good guess.
To be fair to a large extend it is with regard to international affairs. We have many agreements with USA, that are very much dominated by USA.
Norway is in NATO, which is clearly a US dominated organisation, because they constitute more than half the defense capability of NATO.
In much the same way, USA is dominating in the west, because it’s the biggest economy and has the biggest military to enforce their policies, which is largely accepted by allies.
Trump is trying to destroy this entirely, to benefit Putin and China, I think we need to accept our international cooperation with USA, and hope it lasts a while longer.
PS: I’m from Denmark.
Yeah, but they’re talking about things like anti-BDS laws and the way the U.S. treats prisoners. I’m pretty sure Denmark doesn’t have anti-BDS laws and I know Denmark treats its prisoners much better than either the U.S. or China.
Basically, all of their criticisms are U.S.-centric.
By the way, they are now claiming that Denmark also has censorship levels at the same level as Mao’s.
Yes obviously, since Denmark is one of the top democracies in the world, with the highest level of free speech, it’s just as bad as a totalitarian regime. 😜 🤪 What an idiot. 🤡
MFW someone says you can expose and criticize them